Unusual first names - were they any help?

[clayton bradley]

Jonas has been useful in my line. Even though the family of Jonas changed their name from Broadley to Bradley in the 1750s, leaving their brothers as Broadley, the name of Jonas helped me follow the Bradley line forward through all the other unrelated Bradleys. It helped me get back from John Broadley of Church, Lancs 1660-1733 (sons Abraham, Jonas, John) to his father Abraham of Darwen, Lancs (sons Abraham, Jonas, John). Even before the Y-DNA project which took us back to Halifax in Yorkshire, George Redmonds' book Christian names in local and family history, told me that Jonas was a highly unusual name which came from Halifax. I had checked the Blackburn registers for several years either side of 1654 and found no other Jonas and only half a dozen Abrahams. Having got back to Warley, I found Abraham 1632 son of Jonas and Jonas, 1588 son of Robert. Unfortunately, he was the first Jonas. I am now faced with 3 Roberts of Northowram all born about the same time in the 1560s. I am very grateful to Jonas! cb

[Andrew Tarr]

... Even though the family of Jonas changed their name from Broadley to Bradley in the 1750s, leaving their brothers as Broadley, the name of Jonas helped me follow the Bradley line forward through all the other unrelated Bradleys.

It can be misleading to suggest that a family name was consciously 'changed' in the mid-18th century.  At that time literacy was almost exclusively with the clergy and a small number of other educated people, and spellings were not standardised.  Unless families kept their own written records, church rites were almost the only time their names were written.  That would depend on how their accent was interpreted by a cleric, and how he would choose to write it.  Maybe something on the spectrum Broad > Brahd > Brad was a bit of a challenge.

[clayton bradley]

... Even though the family of Jonas changed their name from Broadley to Bradley in the 1750s, leaving their brothers as Broadley, the name of Jonas helped me follow the Bradley line forward through all the other unrelated Bradleys.

It can be misleading to suggest that a family name was consciously 'changed' in the mid-18th century.  At that time literacy was almost exclusively with the clergy and a small number of other educated people, and spellings were not standardised.  Unless families kept their own written records, church rites were almost the only time their names were written.  That would depend on how their accent was interpreted by a cleric, and how he would choose to write it.  Maybe something on the spectrum Broad > Brahd > Brad was a bit of a challenge.

In this case, Andrew Tarr,there is evidence in a letter possessed by a descendant of this branch of the family that it was done deliberately. John Broadley, a Methodist minister, 1803-73, disagreed with his family changing the spelling, saying they had "Miss Nancyfied it". He kept the original spelling and so did his descendants, but his brothers became Bradley. He said he had seen his grandfather's gravestone in Church, Lancs (no longer there) which had Jonas as Broadley.cb

[Andrew Tarr]

In this case, Andrew Tarr,there is evidence in a letter possessed by a descendant of this branch of the family that it was done deliberately. John Broadley, a Methodist minister, 1803-73, disagreed with his family changing the spelling, saying they had "Miss Nancyfied it". He kept the original spelling and so did his descendants, but his brothers became Bradley. He said he had seen his grandfather's gravestone in Church, Lancs (no longer there) which had Jonas as Broadley.

If I interpret you correctly, you have moved into the next century, when literacy was increasing and many names had 'settled down'.  I guess more people were noticing differences and responding to them?

[Treetotal]

Not a Christian name but one line added the surname Miller as a middle name over several generations making them easier to research.
Carol

[Greensleeves]

In Suffolk and Essex it seems to be more of a trend to name children after the maiden surname of the mother, or a family surname, such as there is a Newman Jacques in my family tree. Mmn Newman.

My Suffolk ancestors also used to follow this trend from time to time, giving the boys the mothers' maiden names as Christian names.  This would have been fine, except that the surname was Pearle...

[Stanwix England]

... Even though the family of Jonas changed their name from Broadley to Bradley in the 1750s, leaving their brothers as Broadley, the name of Jonas helped me follow the Bradley line forward through all the other unrelated Bradleys.

It can be misleading to suggest that a family name was consciously 'changed' in the mid-18th century.  At that time literacy was almost exclusively with the clergy and a small number of other educated people, and spellings were not standardised.  Unless families kept their own written records, church rites were almost the only time their names were written.  That would depend on how their accent was interpreted by a cleric, and how he would choose to write it.  Maybe something on the spectrum Broad > Brahd > Brad was a bit of a challenge.

I can speak from experience of having an unusual name, even if you spell your name out or give someone a piece of paper on which you've written your name, people will still spell it wrong. I've had so many forms and emails returned to me over the years in which people have spelt my name wrong even though it's in black and white infront of them. In my case it's partly the fault of certain fonts in which an uppercase I and a lowercase l are indistinguishable.  Some other cases appear to have arisen from the name being read out across a noisy room, that's the only way I can account for once being named on a list as Mona, unless it was a rather cruel and only partly justified comment on my character. 

Like other posters I haven't had many unusual first names but I do find that many of my relatives helpfully kept mothers maiden names which makes it much easier to trace them.

[3sillydogs]

My lot seemed to have stuck to very common first names which they use various combinations of in each generation. Can make your head spin trying to keep them straight. Only one line used the maiden name of the mother as a middle name which made it somewhat easier to track down subsequent generations.

And in one paternal line there are different spellings of the surname which can be misleading.

[clairec666]

I have ancestors with the first names Israel and Barnabas. They've been so much easier to trace than the many Johns and Marys on my other branches. The names were passed down through a few generations so it's been easier to trace those lines.

Unusual names are great, but the downside is that they're often mis-spelled - the earlier you get, the weirder the spelling seems to be! And sometimes it's hard to guess what the pet form of their name might have been (to use Millipede's example, if I'd found a Rhoddy in my tree I wouldn't have guessed it came from Herodia!)

It's good to have a slightly less common name, e.g. a Samuel, Benjamin or Robert, rather than yet another John or William. I'm currently working on a couple called Philip and Hester/Esther, which is useful because their surname was Jones.